Denis McQuail (1935-2017) was Emeritus Professor at the School of Communication Research (ASCOR) University of Amsterdam and Visiting Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Southampton. He studied history and sociology at the University of Oxford and received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. He is an Honorary Doctor of the University of Gent. He has published widely in the field of media and communication, with particular reference to audience research, media policy and performance, and political communication. His most recent book publication is McQuail′s Media and Mass Communication Theory, 7th edition., SAGE, 2020, co-authored by Mark Deuze.Peter Golding is Emeritus Professor at Northumbria University, UK. Until July 2015 he was Pro Vice-Chancellor at Northumbria University, and previously Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Loughborough University, where he was Head of Social Sciences from 1991-2006. He is Hon. President of the Media Research Network of the European Sociological Association, editor of the European Journal of Communication, and Hon. Sec. of the subject association for the field in the UK (MeCCSA). He chaired the Research Assessment Exercise for the field in the UK in 2008 and 2014. He has published widely on media sociology, the political economy of the media, and on communications and social policy. Els De Bens is professor at the Department of Communication Sciences at Ghent University. Her main teaching and research activities are situated in the field of media economy, media policy, journalism studies and ICT. She is an active member of several international networks, including the Euromedia Research Group and the ESF Changing Media, Changing Europe Programme. Els De Bens is visiting professor at the universities of Berkeley (US), Nurnberg, Lille, Stellenbosch (South Africa), Dortmund and Moscow. Furthermore, she is co-editor of the European Journal of Communication and promotor, co-promotor or contractor of four international and two national research projects. She is also member of several evaluation commissions (teaching and research) in Portugal, Switzerland and Netherlands. She is Chairman of the Flemish Media Council. Her scientific publications include 8 books, 29 chapters in international books, 14 refereed articles in international reviews and 35 articles in national and international journals.
